Content marketing and content strategy with a focus on healthcare. The official blog of Aha Media Group.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Doctors Blogging? A Wildly Successful Case Study

There are
many reasons to start a blog. For most companies, it’s about content marketing
and generating leads. In healthcare marketing, it’s about educational content
marketing and creating brand awareness, loyalty and trust. But for a clinician,
starting a blog was about solving a problem: “I didn’t think that patients were
connected with great, timely information that helps them be better parents.”

Dr. Wendy
Sue Swanson, author of the blog, Seattle Mama Doc, as
well as her new book, Mama Doc Medicine, started a parenting blog at Seattle
Children’s Hospital in 2010. Now, with more than 20,000 followers on Twitter
and thousands of readers every month, Dr. Swanson shares of her story of being
a physician who shapes our conversations around healthcare content and social
media.

OIAM: Tell us about your training.How
you came to be interested in writing a blog?

Dr. Swanson: “I knew quite a long time ago I was
interested in the communication space before I became a pediatrician. I finished
a master’s degree in bioethics and have always had a fascination about how
people make decisions and what shared decision-making looks like in the
physician/patient relationship. I was also intrigued by what influences the
media. I trained at Seattle Children’s and went into private practice
afterward, while still maintaining my strong relationship with the hospital.

I remember
the day I decided I couldn’t wait anymore—it was the day after Jenny McCarthy
appeared on Oprah and said that vaccines cause autism. I was in clinic and
parents told me they were afraid to give their child the MMR vaccine.I thought, “I can’t sit on my hands any
longer.”

OIAM: Typically, hospitals want a lot of control over social media and blogs.
How did you convince your executives that this was a good idea?

Dr. Swanson: “I approached the VP of
Communications at the time, David Perry, and said, ‘I think we need a blog.’
But, I also told him that it wasn’t about marketing or strategy. Instead, I
wanted the blog to be about a pediatrician sharing her journey. So, from the
very beginning, I told them that marketing and communications couldn’t touch
this. Soon after I started the blog, (about three months) other people began to
take notice and more trust was built after it [the blog] became more valuable.
But I really got the initial buy-in because I truly believed that we could
provide medical care outside the exam room and others believed it as well.”

OIAM: How do you decide what to write about? Do you use an editorial calendar?

Dr. Swanson: “I actually don’t use an editorial
calendar and I’m very intentional about that.I do think about the topics I want to write. I also know a week ahead of
time the studies that are going to be published in the press, so I can plan for
those posts.Typically, studies spark
interest for the public, so knowing when those are coming out allows me to
publish on the same day, adding my perspective to the conversation.

As social
media matured and I learned more, I started to really listen to my audiences on
Twitter—I created lists and followed bloggers, medical correspondents and other
doctors. I learned what others were talking about and what was really
considered important. I also blog on seasonal issues like flu, sunscreen and
allergies, and I’m always trying to pepper my content with evergreen topics.
And because I still practice as a pediatrician, I try and answer questions that
I get during clinic, because I know other parents are probably asking the exact
same questions.”

OIAM: How do you
approach search engine optimization (SEO)?

Dr. Swanson: I used to have a SEO person who
would help me analyze which posts did well and why.I use Word Press for the blog and look at my
Google analytics every day. I also use the SEO pack in Word Press and
manipulate browser titles for social media vs. SEO. I’m very aware of my
audiences and my traffic—for example, I will write posts differently for
Twitter and Facebook because I’m aware of how different those audiences are.”

OIAM: How do you
balance your time as a clinician and the author of this blog?

Dr. Swanson: I’m very lucky that Seattle
Children’s was so supportive of this endeavor. When I first started, I was 75%
clinical and then I moved to 50% clinical. Now I am 20% clinical and spent 80%
(or the rest of my time) as executive director of Digital Health for the
hospital, as well as the blog. The hospital created an environment where there
was protected time for me to do this so I could dedicate the time it needed to
build and promote the blog. Honestly, I spend more time personally promoting
the content and ideas, than creating it.We, as a group, need to market science and ideas better.”

As a
healthcare marketer, I learned three things from my conversation with Dr.
Swanson:

You have to pick the right doctors to speak for
your organization. Her passion about these issues sparked right through
the phone. Only a clinician who believes in the power of social media
could devote the time and attention you would need to make this a
successful endeavor.

She’s right: We all do need to do a better job of
marketing science and ideas better. People want clear, reviewed
information. Why not give it to them in an easily digestible conversation,
like a blog post?

Editorial calendars are critical when you build a
larger blogging team. While Dr. Swanson doesn’t use an actual document,
truth is, she has an editorial calendar in her head. But once you add in
another blogger, or even a team of physicians who would alternate
blogging, you would need an editorial calendar to keep track of posts, due
dates and editors.

She is a true leader in health care social media. I sat in on one of her panels at SXSW in 2013, and I think she sets the bar for others. Dr. Swanson has truly tapped into this technology to bring great information to people where they want it and need it. Not only is it good for her followers to have access to her health care knowledge, but it's also fantastic for brand awareness. I love your comment about having an editorial calendar in her head. I think everyone needs a guide because it's so easy to get sidetracked! Another fab post, Ahava!